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Euromusic Song Contest 2020
The Euromusic Song Contest 2020 will be the 12th edition of the Euromusic Song Contest . The contest is set to take place in Romania, following the country's victory at the 2019 contest in Athens, Greece, with the song "Arcade" performed by Cristi Minculescu. It would be the second time that Romania hosts the contest, the last edition having been the 2013 contest. Location For more details on the host country, see Romania Preparations for the organisation of the 2020 contest began on 19 May 2019, immediately after Romania won the 2019 contest in Athens, Greece. Jon Ola Sand, the executive supervisor of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for the contest, handed FOX, the Romanian broadcaster participating in the contest, a stack of documents and a USB drive with tools to begin the work needed to host the next contest. FOX is set to co-produce the event with sister news broadcaster TVR and their parent public broadcasting organisatio. '''Bidding phase and host city selection According to the President of Romania, several mayors had already started bids on behalf of their municipalities, lobbying him through text messages, within hours of Cristi's win. The following cities have expressed interest in bidding: 'Cluj-Arena' Cluj Arena (Romanian pronunciation: aˈrena) is a multi-use stadium in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It was ready as of October 2011 and is ranked as an UEFA Elite Stadium (Category 4). The stadium is the new home ground of Universitatea Cluj. The owner, Cluj County Council, and the Government of Romania paid €43,959,908.37 for the new stadium, which is able to hold 30,201 people. The stadium is composed of 4 two-tier covered stands and a new running track. The seats are grey coloured, with different nuances depending on their position. The building is located next to the BT Arena and hosts the famous Untold Festival each year. 'Cluj-Napoca' Cluj-Napoca (Romanian pronunciation: naˈpoka (About this soundlisten), German: Klausenburg; Hungarian: Kolozsvár, Hungarian pronunciation: ˈkoloʒvaːr (About this soundlisten); Medieval Latin: Castrum Clus, Claudiopolis; and Yiddish: קלויזנבורג‎, Kloiznburg), commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania,5 and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (324 kilometres (201 miles)), Budapest (351 km (218 mi)) and Belgrade (322 km (200 mi)). Located in the Someșul Mic river valley, the city is considered the unofficial capital to the historical province of Transylvania. From 1790 to 1848 and from 1861 to 1867, it was the official capital of the Grand Principality of Transylvania. As of 2011, 324,576 inhabitants lived within the city limits (making it the country's second most populous at the time, after the national capital Bucharest), marking a slight increase from the figure recorded at the 2002 census. The Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area has a population of 411,379 people, while the population of the peri-urban area (Romanian: zona periurbană) exceeds 420,000 residents. The new metropolitan government of Cluj-Napoca became operational in December 2008. According to a 2007 estimate provided by the County Population Register Service, the city hosts a visible population of students and other non-residents—an average of over 20,000 people each year during 2004–2007. The city spreads out from St. Michael's Church in Unirii Square, built in the 14th century and named after the Archangel Michael, the patron saint of Cluj-Napoca. The boundaries of the municipality contain an area of 179.52 square kilometres (69.31 sq mi). Cluj-Napoca experienced a decade of decline during the 1990s, its international reputation suffering from the policies of its mayor at the time, Gheorghe Funar. Today, the city is one of the most important academic, cultural, industrial and business centres in Romania. Among other institutions, it hosts the country's largest university, Babeș-Bolyai University, with its botanical garden; nationally renowned cultural institutions; as well as the largest Romanian-owned commercial bank. Cluj-Napoca held the titles of European Youth Capital in 2015 and European City of Sport in 2018. Presenter(s) 'Teo Trandafir' Teodora Virginia Trandafir (n. Uță, 2 iunie 1968, Pitești) is a TV presenter from Romania, was a TV producer, actress, radio presenter and PDL deputy. Since 9 September 2013 she host the TV Show, Teo Show. She is well known thanks to TV show broadcastet on PRO TV between 2000-2006, Teo. 'Horia Tecău' Horia Tecău (Romanian pronunciation: teˈkəw; born January 19, 1985) is a Romanian tennis player currently ranked World No. 25 in doubles. He turned pro in 2003 and reached the men's doubles finals of the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Wimbledon Championships with Robert Lindstedt before winning it in 2015 with Jean-Julien Rojer, with whom he also won the 2017 US Open. Tecău also won the 2012 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals with Rojer. 2010 On January 16, 2010, Tecău won his first ATP doubles title at the 2010 Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, partnering Marcus Daniell. Horia showed a solid game in the beginning of 2010 and won two doubles titles, (one Challenger and one ATP World Tour 250 Series), at Marrakech and Casablanca, which confirmed his good form. He won his third doubles title at 's-Hertogenbosch and his second with partner Robert Lindstedt (his first with him came in Casablanca). At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Tecău reached, for the first time in his career, a Grand Slam doubles final. He and his partner, Robert Lindstedt, defeated the pair of Tommy Robredo and Marcel Granollers in four sets in the quarter finals, qualifying for the semifinals where they defeated the duo of Juan Ignacio Chela and Eduardo Schwank. In the final Tecău and Lindstedt were defeated by the pair of Jürgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner. At Wimbledon in the mixed doubles, he and his partner, fellow Romanian Monica Niculescu, lost in the second round to Marcelo Melo and Rennae Stubbs. At the 2010 Swedish Open, Lindstedt and Tecău won their third title together after winning in the final against Andreas Seppi and Simone Vagnozzi. At the 2010 Farmers Classic, Tecău and Lindstedt were defeated by Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer in the quarterfinals. At the 2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic Tecău and Lindstedt were defeated by the pair of Marcos Baghdatis and Stanislas Wawrinka in the first round on the doubles category. The fifth title of Tecău's career and fourth partnering Lindstedt came at the 2010 Pilot Pen Tennis. The final saw them beating Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, this being their second title win against the Indian-Pakistani pair. 2011 In 2011 Horia started the year alongside his partner, Robert Lindstedt, at the Brisbane International. They had a good start and reached the final of the tournament but a calf injury of Lindstedt forced them to retire after just one set and thus losing the match to the Lukáš Dlouhý / Paul Hanley pair. At the Heineken Open Horia was the defending champion and seeded No. 1 with Robert but they were forced to withdrew due to the Swede's left calf injury sustained just days earlier. At the Australian Open Horia and Robert were eleventh seed but despite leading 1–0 in the first round match against wildcards Colin Ebelthite and Adam Feeney they were forced to retire yet again due to Robert's injury. After the year's first Grand Slam, Horia decided to give his partner, Robert, time to recover and paired with experienced doubles player, Belgian Dick Norman, for the PBZ Zagreb Indoors. This was a successful choice and they reached the tournament final and won it. Following the Zagreb title, Horia paired for the next two tournaments with Austrian Julian Knowle and Pakistani Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi but with little success, exiting both competitions after the first round. He then paired with fellow countryman Victor Hănescu for their biggest doubles title to date, the 500 point Abierto Mexicano Telcel. In the final they beat Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in straight sets. In April, Horia and Lindstedt defended their title in Casablanca, after an impressive display and losing just one set in the first round of the tournament. He had a good grasscourt season with two finals together with Lindstedt, losing in the final of Wimbledon to the Bryan twins. At the return to clay he defended his win at Swedish Open, again with Lindstedt. 2015: Wimbledon Doubles Title Horia Tecău and Jean-Julien Rojer won Wimbledon defeating Jamie Murray and John Peers in the final. 'Simona Halep' Simona Halep (Romanian pronunciation: haˈlep; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on 9 October 2017. On her second occasion, she held the ranking for 48 consecutive weeks. In total, she has been No. 1 for 64 weeks, which ranks tenth in the history of women's tennis. Halep was the year-end No. 1 in 2017 and 2018. She has won 19 WTA singles titles. Halep has also finished runner-up 17 times. Halep has won two Grand Slam singles titles: the 2018 French Open and the 2019 Wimbledon Championships. Halep first broke into the world's top 50 at the end of 2012, reached the top 20 in August 2013, and finally the top 10 in January 2014. She won her first six WTA titles in the same calendar year in 2013 (the first to do so since Steffi Graf in 1986), being named the WTA's Most Improved Player at its end, as well as being named ESPN Center Court's 2013 Most Improved Player. Halep won her first major tournament at the 2018 French Open and went on to win the Wimbledon Championships in 2019. She had previously reached the finals of the 2014 French Open, 2017 French Open, and 2018 Australian Open finals. She also reached the final of the 2014 WTA Finals, losing to Serena Williams in straight sets after having defeated her earlier in the tournament 6–0, 6–2 (which to that point was Serena's worst defeat in her career). Halep was the most clicked player on WTATennis.com for two consecutive years (2014–2015), when she was awarded the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year prize. After the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, Simona Halep became the active player with the most consecutive weeks within the top 10. Halep has also won WTA's Fan Favorite Singles Player in 2017 and 2018 and WTA's Player of the Year in 2018. In December 2018, Halep was named the most dominant tennis player of the year by ESPN and ranked ninth in The Dominant 20 top of the most dominant 20 athletes in the world. She notched a 46–8 record. She was given the award of Cetățean de onoare ("Honorary Citizen") of the city of Bucharest in 2018. She is also a recipient of the Patriarchal Cross of Romania and the Order of the Star of Romania. Halep is the third Romanian female tennis player, after Virginia Ruzici and Irina Spîrlea, to have ever entered the top 10 WTA ranking (Magda Rurac was also ranked in the top 10 in unofficial world rankings in 1948 and 1949, before the existence of WTA rankings). She is also the first Romanian tennis player to win a Wimbledon singles title. Provisional list of participating countries As of 28 June 2019, twenty seven countries have confirmed their intentions to participate in the contest. 'Semi-Finalist(s)' 'Finalist(s)' Other Countries Eligibility for potential participation in the Euromusic Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership that will be able to broadcast the contest via the Eurovision network. The EBU will issue an invitation of participation in the contest to all active members. In contrast to previous years, associate member Australia will not need an invitation for the 2020 contest, as it was granted permission to participate until 2023. 'Active EBU members' * Albania– On 28 May 2019, the Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) confirmed that they were accepting submissions for the upcoming edition of Festivali i Këngës. While Festivali i Këngës has been used to select Albania's Euromusic entry since their debut, it has also been held independently from Euromusic from 2009, and they have not explicitly confirmed their participation. * Andorra – In March 2019, Andorran broadcaster Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) stated that they would be open to co-operating with Catalan broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya (TVC) to participate in future contests. The two broadcasters had previously co-operated when Andorra debuted in the 2009 contest. However, on 22 May 2019, RTVA confirmed that they would not participate in the 2020 contest. * Bosnia and Herzegovina– On 28 December 2018, Bosnia and Herzegovina's head of delegation, Lejla Babović, stated that returning to the contest was their primary goal, but their financial situation, debt with the EBU and lack of funding would make it difficult for the country to return in 2020. * Bulgaria – On 8 April 2019, Bulgarian broadcaster Bulgarian National Television (BNT) stated that they had no plans to return to the contest in the near future, citing how the contest no longer fit the broadcaster's content strategy. However, the broadcaster expects to elect a new delegation and managing board on 5 July 2019, after which it could decide upon further participation in the contest. * Luxembourg– Although Luxembourg has never participated in the competition, there have been increasing calls on them to return to the contest. In May 2019, Anne-Marie David, called on the nation to return, while a petition from fans demanding a Luxembourgish return to the contest was sent to the Luxembourgish broadcaster RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg (RTL) and the Chamber of Deputies. In previous years, RTL had stated they would not return to the contest due to financial concerns and the belief that smaller nations could not succeed in modern Euromusic. * Malta– On 20 January 2019, it was confirmed that the talent show X Factor Malta, with which the participant of the 2019 contest was selected, would return for a second season in 2020. However, it was not confirmed whether it would be used to select Malta's participant for 2020. * Spain– On 15 January 2019, Eladio Jareño, the director of Spanish broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), confirmed that talent show Operación Triunfo would make a return in 2020. While it was used as the selection process for Spain in 2018 and 2019, it is not confirmed whether it will also be used to determine Spain's entry for the 2020 contest. * Turkey– In August 2018, İbrahim Eren, the general manager of Turkish broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), explained that they could not broadcast a show that contained sexually ambigous people (referencing Conchita Wurst, the winner of the 2014 Eurovision Song contest) at times when children were still watching television. He also commented that the EBU had deviated from its values due to its executives, and that the broadcaster disagreed with the split jury/tele-voting system, which was introduced in 2009. 'Associate EBU members' * Kosovo – Mentor Shala, the general director of Kosovar broadcaster Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), stated that the broadcaster was still pushing for full EBU membership, and that it hoped to debut at the 2020 contest. RTK is in talks with the EBU regarding the membership. The EBU is set to vote on full membership of RTK in June 2019; approval would allow the broadcaster to debut in the 2020 contest or shortly after that.